A negative for the community

U of G research confirms benefits of dog walking
— local, A3
Wednesday
July 23, 2014 . Serving Guelph and Wellington County . 95 cents + tax ($1.00) . guelphmercury.com
‘A negative for the community’
But impact of Guelph Transit lockout on city budget difficult to measure: CAO
Rob O’Flanagan, Mercury staff
GUELPH — The financial implications of the
transit shutdown are difficult to predict or
calculate in the early stages, Guelph’s CAO
indicated on Tuesday, the second day of the
lockout of 205 transit workers.
Ann Pappert said public transit is linked
into several other city services, programs and
facilities, and the costs or savings to public
coffers from a transit shutdown are not easy to
estimate. As of now, there is no way of accurately knowing at what impact the lockout
will have.
Workers were locked out Monday.
The city announced a lockout of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1189 on July
12, a move that was to have taken effect on
Monday, July 14. The two sides in the dispute
got back to bargaining and averted the stoppage.
But Local 1189 members voted down the
tentative agreement a week later and the lockout was put back in effect.
Pappert said it is too soon to tell what the
financial implications of the transit shut-
down will be. Some estimates can be made on
things such as bus pass refunds, but even that
is guesswork at this point.
Pappert said it is estimated that at this time
of year there are about 7,000 daily bus riders.
The vast majority, she said, likely hold bus
passes. If all of those people make good on the
city’s offer to refund 50 per cent of the cost of
all July bus passes that would represent a
$76,000 payout for the city, she said. Passes for
University of Guelph students are a separate
part of the equation, she added.
‰ SEE LOCKOUT ON PAGE A4
Cricket club prepares for weekend matchup
TONY SAXON, MERCURY STAFF
Jothi Brar takes a swing at a bowled ball during a recent practice at the Inverhaugh Cricket Club just west of Elora. The club will be hosting a club
from Florida Saturday and Sunday. For more information go to the club’s website at www.inverhaugh.com.
A tiny, perfect home
Public will be
surveyed at events
in coming weeks
Alex Migdal, Mercury staff
Mercury staff
ALEX MIGDAL, MERCURY STAFF
Matthew Davey works on his tiny house on wheels Monday afternoon.
tres tiny.
But for a princely sum of
$20,000, using mostly reclaimed
material, the two will enjoy a cosy
roof over their head.
And the Guelph couple considers the planned eight-by-20-foot
space, which appears smaller
than most living rooms, a big upgrade.
Earlier this year, they spent
months criss-crossing Canada
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Vik Kirsch, Mercury staff
GUELPH — The municipal transit lockout is adversely affecting
developmentally disabled Community Living clients working at
ARC Industries or living in group
homes.
“At this point, we’re aware of
about up to 50 people who are impacted on a daily basis. Why I’m
saying up to is some people have
taken vacation this week,” Community Living of Guelph Wellington executive director Bob Butella
said Tuesday. His not-for-profit
agency assists about 420 clients in
Guelph and area, including almost
150 full- and part-time employees
at Guelph-based ARC industries, a
rehabilitative employment training and support centre.
Clients, he said, are taking alternative means of getting around,
notably bicycles. Others are relying on family members to help
them get by.
Community Living is also helping with some carpooling for those
in group homes. Monday, he said,
one client took a taxi, but found
that expensive.
“We’re working with the people
we support. We’re working with
their families, with our employees, just to try to find alternatives.”
The agency looked into what
the Ontario Disability Support
Program could offer, but found its
help is limited to those needing to
get to medical appointments.
Guelph City Hall’s mobility service, he added, is providing busing
for people with pre-booked medical appointments, which was arranged by the municipality.
The city locked out its bus drivers Monday after unioniz ed
Guelph Transit workers rejected a
tentative contract agreement on
Sunday. There’s no indication yet
when talks may resume in the labour dispute.
“Like everyone else, we’re hoping for resolution fairly quickly,”
Butella said.
The latest information on the
city’s evolving bus situation is online at www.guelph.ca/living/getting-around/bus.
[email protected]
Activists want to know:
How can Guelph improve
its local food system?
It’s cosy,
it’s cheap,
and it’s portable
GUELPH — In three months, fingers crossed, Kat Walters and
Matthew Davey will move into
their brand new home.
Their custom space, which
they’ve tirelessly designed over
the past few months and are just
star ting to build, will come
equipped with two loft-style bedrooms, solar panels, a composting
toilet and stairs that house a water tank.
Oh, and walking from one end
of the house to another will take
all of five steps.
Walters and Davey are downsizing to the extreme with their
“tiny house” on wheels.
Not tiny as in quaint cottage or
thrifty studio. Tiny as in watch
your head when you walk in. Tiny
as in you might touch both walls
with your hands outstretched. Tiny as in how could anyone live like
this?
We’re talking 15-square-me-
ARC Industries
workers among
those impacted
by lockout
and the United States in a six-bynine-foot cadet trailer. A few
weeks in, cold weather in Texas
forced them to lodge in a hotel.
It was then, while browsing the
internet, Walters stumbled on a
video of a tiny house.
“I fell in love right away,” she
says.
That love has led to about 900
hours of work, Walters estimates.
‰ SEE HOME ON PAGE A4
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GUELPH — How important is a
healthy, sustainable food system
to local residents?
That’s what local food activists will be asking as they survey
the public at festivals, games and
other gatherings, beginning at
this week’s Hillside Festival in
Guelph.
They’ll be asked how important it is to them that sustainable
food production methods be supported and encouraged.
Proponent Phil Mount said
the Guelph-Wellington Food
Round Table initiative is the logical next step after the creation of
the Guelph-Wellington Food
Charter, which city council endorsed in December 2011.
The food charter boasts six
key pillars “on how we think
Guelph-Wellington should be developing their food system,” said
Mount, a food activist and Wilfrid
Laurier University researcher.
“Basically, they’re philosophical principles of how we think
Guelph-Wellington should be developing their food system. We
need to turn those principles into
solid things that people can understand and people can act on.”
The six pillars focus on various aspects of desirable food production and consumption.
They zero in on health, public
education, sustainable economic
development, the environment,
culture and social justice. The local food charter says its goal is “to
build a vibrant, sustainable,
food-secure community.”
To Mount, creating a food
strategy has a variety of benefits.
“Many of the pieces that have
been identified over time as issues that are important in our
food system that need to be addressed remain issues,” he said.
‰ SEE FOOD ON PAGE A3
A LOOK AT
TOMORROW’S
WEATHER
FULL FORECAST, PAGE A2
H: 23
L: 11
local
Guelph Mercury z Wednesday, July 23, 2014 z A4
Too early to measure impact
Big houses made them feel
entrapped in many ways
ALEX MIGDAL, MERCURY STAFF
Kat Walters measures some of the reclaimed wood she salvaged for her
house. She and Matthew Davey like the looks of Guelph and might stay.
‰ HOME FROM PAGE A1
ROB O’FLANAGAN, MERCURY STAFF
About 30 locked-out Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1189, members picketed in front of Guelph City Hall on
Carden Street Tuesday morning. Members voted down a tentative contract.
‰ LOCKOUT FROM PAGE A1
Brenda Whiteside, U of G associate vice-president (student affairs), said there are just 335 fulltime undergraduates enrolled during the summer, and many other
graduate students accessing campus at this time to conduct laboratory work and other research.
“Our student governments offer the bus pass and they have been
working with the city regarding a
refund,” she said in an email. “We
are also working to find mechanisms to help people share rides.
Hopefully this will help those who
need to get to campus.”
While it may be true that the
city will not be paying the salaries
of 205 employees during the lockout, there is no way yet of telling
how a reduction of public transit
might impact other city facilities
such as recreation centres or programs offered at libraries where
citizens pay for city services. If riders can’t get to these facilities, municipal coffers will take a negative
hit, Pappert suggested.
“The offset is always there for
revenue,” Pappert said. “We’re
just starting to look at trying to determine what effect the work stoppage might have on the city budget.
Off the top, I think my first response would be this is a negative
for the community from an economic perspective.”
She said while the city may be
saving in salaries, it is losing money in revenue from bus passes and
fees. Short-, medium- and longterm lockout scenarios are being
looked at in an effort to gauge the
financial impact. The cost of managing the lockout — expenditures
on such things as security at city
facilities — is not possible to estimate at this early stage.
“It is really early to try to land
how much this is going to cost the
city,” Pappert said. “It is still to be
determined. We want to be transparent about this, but it is just really early to try to give a fair answer.”
Guelph taxi companies appear
to be seeing a net benefit in the first
days of the lockout. Representatives from both Canadian Cab and
Guelph Taxi said Tuesday there
has been a spike in the demand for
cab rides, although that demand
has levelled out.
Karen Bertrand, a dispatcher
with Guelph Taxi, said Monday
was a particularly busy day as citizens scrambled to find transporta-
tion alternatives.
Jesse Mendoza, a cab owner and
secretary treasurer with Canadian
Cab, said demand has been strong
in the mornings and late afternoons as people call cabs for rides
to and from work.
Pappert said the city is unclear
at this point what Local 1189 members are looking for.
“I think where we’re at is an issue of clarity — trying to get a very
clear understanding from the
membership and executive of ATU
as to what is still outstanding,” she
said, adding the list brought by the
union to the bargaining table has
shifted.
“When the agreement came
through, we were much more optimistic because it was something
that was absolutely hammered
out,” she said, adding that the outstanding issues now are “a moving
target again.”
Moving forward will require
further clarity from the union on
what needs to be addressed.
Attempts to arrange an interview with Local 1189 president Andrew Cleary Tuesday were not successful.
[email protected]
Now she sits cross-legged
among piles of wooden planks
Monday afternoon.
It’s only day three of building
and she’s already run into some
flooring problems. The subfloor,
she says, is crucial to protecting
the trailer from moisture, rodents and insects.
Nearby, a flatbed trailer sits
between a garage and a shed. Davey says securing the wood structure to the flatbed will prove most
challenging.
Remarkably, the couple says
they’re improvising the construction. They draw on basic design principles, but their plans
constantly change and most of
their guidance comes from the internet.
They still aren’t sure how
they’ll weather proof the house,
since most tiny homes don’t have
to deal with frigid temperatures.
Such compact spaces, also
known as accessory dwelling
units, are used to balmier locales
like Portland, Ore., where they
started springing up about 10
years ago. They reportedly now
make up one in 10 new homes in
that city.
Walters understands the appeal. “Something about being in a
small space feels safe to me,” she
says.
“I can open up my door and the
world’s right there, instead of
having a big apartment or a big
house where I’m always hiding in
it. … It forces me to want to be
outside and explore.”
Davey has owned two houses.
He says he spent the majority of
his time maintaining them and
working to afford them. “For me,
the smaller the space, the more
free time I have. And I think that’s
more important for me.”
But the close quarters begs the
question: How can the two stand
each other?
Walters flashes a knowing
smile. “We are incredibly compatible,” she says.
“A lot of people must comment
that it must test our relationship,” Davey notes. But the couple says the tiny space forces
them to quickly resolve issues.
And it’s not just a two-man
mission. The two are chronicling
their progress on an online blog.
A penchant for green values
has also drawn them to Guelph
after moving five times in the past
2½ years. But if they do grow
tired, they’re only one drive away
from their next adventure.
“We can pull into a place and
be there for six months and if we
feel it’s not the greatest neighbourhood, it means we just can
take our home with us,” Walters
says. “There’s a freedom to having our home on wheels.”
[email protected]
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Bride’s nightmare
Changing lineup
Samantha Whitworth found out the hard way she
picked the wrong wedding planner — local, A3
Network TV finally embracing diversity with
new slate of shows this fall — life, D1
On the web: Golfer Lucas Kim breaks course record during Mandarin Tour event. Go to Videos at guelphmercury.com
TOMORROW’S WEATHER
FULL FORECAST, PAGE A2
H: 25
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Saturday
July 19, 2014 . Serving Guelph and Wellington County . $1.90 + tax ( $2.00 ) . weekend edition
Rugby club mourns Flight 17 victim
Richard Mayne spent a summer playing rugby in Fergus on exchange program
Tony Saxon, Mercury staff
FERGUS — The Malaysian airline tragedy in
Ukraine hit home for members of the Highland
Rugby Club Friday when it was learned a former teammate was one of the victims.
Richard Mayne, 20, spent a summer playing
for the Fergus-based club in 2012 as part of an
ongoing exchange program between Highland
and the Market Bosworth Rugby Club just outside Leicester, England.
Mayne was 18 when he spent eight weeks
billeting with various families in the Fergus
area, experiencing a new culture and playing
for the Highland club for the summer.
“I can’t tell you how much it’s impacted a lot
UW grad was aboard downed plane — A5
Three
diseases
added to
student
vaccine
schedule
of our players. I’ve been talking to them during
the day and it’s hit them hard,” Highland Rugby
president Joe Bowley said Friday.
Bowley got a message from Mayne’s parents
letting him know that their son was killed when
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down on
Thursday, killing all 298 people on board.
‰ SEE MAYNE ON PAGE A5
Who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17? — B8
Richard Mayne was on flight MH17.
Local doctor goes against
the grain with low-carb diet
Public health
to look more fully
at child’s record
Joanne Shuttleworth,
Mercury staff
GUELPH — If you’ve got kids
heading to school in September,
now is a good time to make sure
their immunizations are up-todate.
And now is also a good time
to make sure you’ve reported all
immunizations to WellingtonDufferin-Guelph Public Health,
the agency that ensures all
school-aged children have their
shots or that their parents have
signed a waiver stating they’ve
chosen not to immunize.
As of July 1, three more immunizations have been added to
the list of diseases children
need to be immunized against
— whooping cough, chickenpox
and meningococcal disease.
Children are still required to be
vaccinated against tetanus,
diphtheria, polio, mumps, measles and rubella.
“What’s different now is the
legislation has given public
health some teeth,” said Rita
Sethi, director of community
health. “We monitor the records
and make sure they’re getting
their shots. This gives us the opportunity to look more fully at a
child’s record.”
Sethi said schools will ask
for immunization records when
you register your child. She said
public health will assess the records at seven years of age, so if
records are incomplete, you’ll
be hearing from them.
They also administer hepatitis B and HPV vaccines to students in Grade 7. Fifteen-yearold students need a booster shot
and at age 17, public health will
reassess records again.
“Once they turn 18 they are
not part of our assessment,”
Sethi said. “Adults need a booster shot every 10 years after
that.”
Children who haven’t been
vaccinated derive some protection if children around them
have been. If an outbreak occurs, public health needs to
know who has had their shots
and who is at risk.
‰ SEE VACCINE ON PAGE A3
ALEX MIGDAL, MERCURY STAFF
Anna Issakoff-Meller is a Guelph family doctor who has denounced Canada’s Food Guide and advocates for people to cut carbs from their diets.
Alex Migdal, Mercury staff
GUELPH — Some mornings, Dr. Anna IssakoffMeller makes herself a light serving of eggs, avocado
and salsa.
Other mornings, if she’s feeling more carnivorous, the Guelph family doctor rips into a juicy steak.
Issakoff-Meller argues both are healthier alternatives to sugary cereals, gluttonous breads and deceitful muffins.
All those options are loaded with carbohydrates,
an energy source for the body that, in excess, is catapulting the country into an obesity and diabetes epidemic, she says.
“We are giving the wrong message to people,”
Issakoff-Meller says. “We’ve been brainwashed into
thinking that fat is bad and carbs are OK.”
As of 2011-12, Statistics Canada reports that 36.3
per cent of Guelph adult residents are overweight
and 15.9 per cent are obese.
Issakoff-Meller points to the glossy-paged culprit.
A family
physician boldly
proclaims
that fat can
actually be your
friend
Colourful drawings of bread, rice and pasta streak
across the front page of Canada’s Food Guide.
Six years ago, Issakoff-Meller would have believed its suggested intake of six to eight servings of
carbs per day for the average adult.
But then she stumbled on a revelatory read: Good
Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Diet of Health by Gary Taubes.
“When I got to the carbohydrate chapter, I
thought, ‘Oh God,’ and read it twice and took good
notes,” she recalls.
“I realized I had been duped. I had just believed
when I went through school. I never thought.”
Nowadays, Issakoff-Meller goes against the
grain, so to speak. She urges her patients to avoid
breads, pastas, grains, baked goods, sugars, potatoes
and even fruits higher in carbs (such as bananas and
fruit juice). She boldly proclaims that fat is your
friend. It can be found in meat, fish, seafood, eggs,
nuts, oils and dairy products.
‰ SEE CARBS ON PAGE A2
Community care access chief leaving post to care for aging parents
Vik Kirsch, Mercury staff
GUELPH — With his parents in
failing health, the head of the regional agency that co-ordinates
home care is taking early retirement so he can relocate to Chatham and take on the role of care
provider.
Waterloo Wellington Community Care Access Centre chief executive Gordon Milak is leaving in
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The 55-year-old executive has
been in the job slightly more than
a year.
“It’s not a small irony,” he said
Friday about making a career in
the home care sector of the health
system and finding himself responsible for looking after the
home care of his parents.
He said he hasn’t made the decision to leave lightly.
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He’s planning to leave the agency around mid-September, though
an exact date hasn’t been set.
The CCAC board is creating a
search committee to find Milak’s
replacement.
The agency noted among his
accomplishments were the agency’s “exemplary standing” accreditation, management restructuring, introduction of “personcentred care,” and stronger rela-
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tions within the regional health
integration network.
Milak’s previous experience
guiding home and community
care included being senior director for the CCAC in London, after
joining that agency in 2007. Before
that, he was executive director for
the Victorian Order of Nurses in
Middlesex Elgin.
[email protected]
local
Guelph Mercury z Saturday, July 19, 2014 z A2
Tim Schmalz: brave and epic art
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(evening draws)
Yesterday’s unofficial winning numbers:
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l
l
l
t was good to talk to sculptor
Tim Schmalz about public art
last week. He put some radical
notions in my head, and got me
thinking.
My feelings about art are laced
with a toxic mix of hope, disillusionment, fun and frustration. I
have an overarching sense that
art is generally failing to do what
it should do — move, challenge,
enlighten, and uplift.
Much of what is out there in the
art world strikes me as impotent,
constrained by dull imitation.
I’m aware that much of this
thinking springs from my own
impotence and imitation as an
artist, but also from having been
around the block of the art scene a
few times.
“Today, artwork can be
spectacular,” Schmalz said. “It
can rival all the other artwork of
all the other periods of history.
But it is the responsibility of the
cities and of the artists to think of
the big picture, the bigger philosophical ideas initially, and then
what they are going to have is
more epic artwork.”
Big, epic ideas generate big,
epic art, he said, and there is hardly enough of that kind of thing
going around, despite all the new
materials and technologies at the
artist’s disposal.
Schmalz’s ideas aren’t so radical when looked at from the perspective of historical art. His work
ROB
O’FLANAGAN
free form
is, after all, influenced by the
great artists and ideas of the Renaissance, and that era was all
about the epic. But in today’s
strange and disjointed art world,
Schmalz’s ideas have a certain
daring ring to them.
“The problem with our society
is we are all too timid to actually
think about the big, epic ideas,
because, oh no, we might offend
someone,” he added.
Schmalz lives in St. Jacobs,
where he has a studio. He has
another studio in China. His work
is commissioned internationally,
much of it based in Christian
themes. You will not see his monumental pieces in the public art
galleries in this country. His art
would be considered too overwrought with heavy-handed religiosity to fit with the thematic
correctitude that contemporary
art currently considers relevant.
Nevertheless, Schmalz’s work
has some punch, and is very popular among a general public far
removed from the art elite.
I first learned about the artist
during my years as a reporter in
Sudbury. In the early 2000s I re-
ported on a long and difficult
campaign to have a mining monument prominently installed in
that city’s Bell Park, the gem
among the community’s many
lakeside parks.
Schmalz’s National Mining
Monument went up just over 10
years ago, and to my knowledge
still draws thousands of curious
onlookers each year.
Even in the planning stages,
the sculpture caused controversy
because of its proposed location,
and for aesthetic reasons. Not
everyone in the city’s artistic and
environmental circles believed
environmentally destructive
nickel mining should be commemorated by a sculpture that
ascribed a kind of heroism to
mineral extraction.
The two-sided, five-metre-high
bronze sculpture is a kind of
horseshoe shape with a pair of
huge hands at the bottom reaching into the earth. There is an
elaborate array of hundreds of
highly realistic miners sweeping
down both arms of the piece at a
progressively larger scale. These
are tough, sinewy working men,
armed with picks, jackhammers,
chisels and shovels. They are
working deep underground.
At the top of the sculpture, on
the surface and wedged between a
series of smokestacks on one side
and a mining headframe on the
other, rests the sprawling city that
‰ CARBS FROM PAGE A1
Fruits and vegetables, as always, come highly recommended (although it’s best to limit
fruit to one serving per day).
And now Issakoff-Meller is championing
the cause across Guelph, especially to those
suffering from obesity. She says the city is starting to catch on.
The Guelph Family Health Team, which
serves 110,000 patients, has started running
five-week low-carb eating groups. The pilot
group wrapped up in early May with 18 patients.
“The first one was a test of change. If we built
it, would people come?” says Ross Kirkconnell,
the team’s executive director.
A group of physicians, dieticians and nurses, led by Issakoff-Meller, coached people on
easing into the diet over several weeks.
“People come in with all kinds of questions.
Like, I have a family, how can I do this with
kids? Or how do I get my spouse interested
when they don’t like vegetables?” Kirkconnell
says.
Patients each week reported on their progress and shared their struggles. Kirkconnell
says the majority stuck it out.
“People were saying, ‘I’m surprised at how
much better I feel so quickly,’ ” he says. “Awareness is starting to happen.”
Issakoff-Meller is also hoping to promote
her cause through small businesses. She wants
Guelph restaurants to identify low-carb items
on their menus and grocery merchants to sell
similar products.
She’s convinced some so far. The Bookshelf
features “Dr. Anna’s Picks” at the front of the
store, a set of hand-picked titles on low-carb
diets.
Barb Minnett, co-owner of The Bookshelf,
says she wants to help raise awareness on sensible eating. She notes her own grandson is
diabetic.
“I commend (Issakoff-Meller),” Minnett
said.
“Obesity is a big problem and so is diabetes.
Anything that doctors can do to spread the
world about healthy living is important.”
But some critics call the low-carb diet a fad
that lacks scientific basis.
Research suggests its adherers may lose
weight quickly, but mainly because they’re
consuming less food and calories. And depriving your body of carbohydrates could leave you
with reduced energy and put you at risk for
nutrient deficiencies.
While Issakoff-Meller denounces Canada’s
Food Guide, Lisa Needham, a public health nutritionist with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph
Public Health, says it offers flexible guidelines
to keep the average population healthy.
“It’s a strong document that is formed under
strong evidence,” she says.
She says the guide allows people to determine their needs for energy, vitamins and nu-
TOMORROW
Normal High
26.7°
Normal Low
15.1°
Record High 33.2°/1991
Record Low 7.9°/1979
Precipitation
Today's Normals 3.7mm
CANADA
Calgary
Charlottetn
Edmonton
Fredericton
Halifax
Iqaluit
Montreal
Ottawa
Quebec C.
Regina
Saskatoon
St John’s
Showers
H: 25
L: 15
TODAY
tshowers
sunny
tstorms
sunny
sunny
showers
sunny
m.sunny
sunny
tshowers
showers
p.cloudy
25/12
25/16
20/13
28/15
26/15
12/8
28/20
26/17
27/17
28/16
25/14
18/11
Toronto
Vancouver
Victoria
Whitehorse
Winnipeg
Yellowknife
RESORTS
Acapulco
Barbados
Bermuda
Havana
San Juan
Rob O’Flanagan is a Mercury staff writer. His
Free Form column appears Saturdays. He can
be reached at
[email protected]
PHIL
ANDREWS
reader report
WILL RETURN
Diabetics report ‘phenomenally great’ results
trients, while establishing an eating pattern
based on their age and gender.
Most troubling for low-carb critics is the
diet’s lack of fibre and abundance of saturated
fats and cholesterol.
“In general, (fibre) does have lots of roles in
chronic health prevention and digestive
health,” Needham says.
But Issakoff-Meller says researchers have
dismissed myths about fibre shortage and suggests people try the diet themselves.
She gradually started using the low-carb diet on diabetics six years ago and says she got
“phenomenally great” results.
Cameron Youngs can attest to that. He was
in his mid-40s in 2008 when his blood sugar rose
to prediabetic levels. Much of his diet included
sodas and burgers.
“My father had actually died in the ’60s of
diabetes that led to heart and kidney failure,”
he says.
“Anna was very straight up with me on that.
She said if I didn’t something about it, I would
be following in his steps.”
Youngs says he “instantly” started losing
weight once he ate low-carb. He gradually reintroduced carbs into his diet once he dropped 30
pounds.
Indeed, people may find the low-carb diet
tough to endure for the long run due to the
limited food choices.
Youngs suggests following the diet in moderation. For breakfast, he typically eats plain
white yogurt mixed with fruit and nuts. Homemade broccoli soup usually makes up lunch,
while supper consists of plain chicken and salad.
But if he’s at a restaurant, he won’t kill himself over sneaking in some mouth-watering
fries.
“I remember back when I was harsh on myself right before going on vacation to Disney
World,” Youngs says, laughing. “Anna said,
‘Cam, you’ve got to have fun.’ ”
[email protected]
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©The Weather Network 2014
ALMANAC
mining built.
I remember being a touch
skeptical of the piece myself when
it first surfaced as the sculpture of
choice for the monument. It
seemed old fashioned, neoclassical, a touch garish and not very
hip. I was under the influence of a
more late-modernist aesthetic,
and thought things should be
somewhat looser, less blatant, and
more esoteric.
But when I first saw it in the
flesh at its unveiling, I was bowled
over, or rather my aesthetic prejudices were. The amount of skill,
effort and craft that went into its
making was impressive. The
artist has an uncommon level of
Old World artistry.
That Old World level of skill
and craft tends to be missing in so
much in contemporary art, and
lately I find that very disappointing. When it does appear, it can
have a potent impact.
showers
showers
showers
showers
p.cloudy
p.cloudy
MONDAY
Partly cloudy
H: 26
L: 16
23/18
21/15
21/14
19/11
25/19
21/14
TOMORROW
p.cloudy
p.cloudy
sunny
p.cloudy
cloudy
35/27
31/24
30/24
35/23
29/27
WORLD
Amsterdam
Beijing
Berlin
Brussels
Hong Kong
Honolulu
Jerusalem
Kiev
Las Vegas
Lisbon
London
Los Angeles
TUESDAY
Sunny
H: 30
L: 20
TOMORROW
showers
p.cloudy
cloudy
tstorms
p.cloudy
tshowers
sunny
tshowers
sunny
sunny
cloudy
sunny
24/18
36/25
33/19
28/18
33/28
29/24
28/18
31/16
38/28
29/16
25/15
25/19
WEDNESDAY
ACROSS
THE
sunny
27/15
p.cloudy 23/10
tstorms 30/26
sunny
27/12
cloudy
37/24
tstorms 26/16
p.cloudy 34/16
p.cloudy 31/20
p.cloudy 34/28
p.cloudy 27/10
p.cloudy 15/11
sunny
31/24
tstorms 30/22
food choices and
Collingwood
21/16
Showers
H: 29
L: 17
Madrid
Mexico
Miami
Moscow
New Delhi
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Singapore
Stockholm
Sydney
Tel Aviv
Tokyo
Health Check™
REGION
Goderich
22/18
Sarnia
25/17
Guelph
25/15
Hamilton
25/16
London
25/16
reducing trans fats.
Toronto
25/17
Niagara
Falls
24/18
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
YOU PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT.™
Windsor
26/19
www.heartandstroke.ca
Battle brews over turf at women’s World Cup
— sports, B5
Wednesday
August 6, 2014 . Serving Guelph and Wellington County . 95 cents + tax ($1.00) . guelphmercury.com
City buses to roll again Friday
City council, union approve deal for 6.8 per cent over four years; free bus use until end of day Aug. 15
Joanne Shuttleworth, Mercury staff
GUELPH — Guelph Transit bus service is
expected to resume on Friday after Guelph
City council and members of the Amalgam-
ated Transit Union Local 1190 voted Tuesday
to ratify a tentative agreement reached last
week.
“While we expect to restore transit service in our community by Friday, this isn’t a
City hall
committee
backs
traffic
circle
downtown
celebration,” Guelph Mayor Karen Farbridge states in a press release issued
around 8 p.m. Tuesday. “Guelph’s transit riders and, in particular, the working poor have
endured a tremendous hardship throughout
this disruption. Tomorrow the hard work
continues as we work to repair the relationship between city administration and our
transit employees.”
‰ SEE DIFFICULT ON PAGE A3
A crack shot and thirst
for adventure led to Vimy
Concern raised
about cost of
improvements
Joanne Shuttleworth,
Mercury staff
GUELPH — The city’s planning and building, engineering
and environment committee approved a street plan on Tuesday
that harkens back to Guelph’s
history.
The matter still has to go before council for approval, but
Tuesday’s decision paves the
way for a traffic circle surrounding pedestrian space in
the centre of the square with angled on street parking on Wyndham Street, wider sidewalks
and bike lanes.
The plan has been many
years in the making, said Todd
Salter, general manager of planning services, and has come
about because the city is planning to renew and replace infrastructure under the roads
downtown to accommodate
growth. “That necessitates discussion on how to put it back
afterward,” Salter said.
David DeGroot, senior urban
designer, presented concept
drawings to the council committee. These drawings have
been presented to the public before and have received endorsement from the downtown advisory committee, a citizen committee of interested residents
and business owners.
Wyndham, Quebec, Douglas
and Macdonell streets will be
“flexible” streets that can easily
be closed to vehicles for events
like parades and festivals. But
the main attraction is a central
‘island’ with trees, seating and
space to accommodate a multitude of functions, like concerts,
food festivals, outdoor market
stalls or public art exhibits.
Hi s to r i c a l p ho tos show
Guelph’s St. George’s Square
u sed to have St. Georg e’s
Church in the centre with traffic flowing around it, and the
new concept for the square pays
homage to that history.
St. George’s Square hasn’t
seen any major improvements
since 1981, when a T-intersection was installed.
“That really fragmented the
space and reduced flexibility,”
DeGroot said.
MERCURY NEWS SERVICES FILE PHOTO
A figure at the Vimy Memorial in France represents Canada mourning her fallen sons. John Coker of Eramosa Township was buried
in France and his name was inscribed on the memorial.
Ed Butts,
Special to the Mercury
Editor’s note: The following
profile is part of an ongoing series produced by Ed Butts examining the story and war story behind individuals named as First
World War dead on the Guelph
cenotaph in commemoration of
the 100th anniversary of the start
of the war this year.
GUELPH — At the time the
First World War broke out in
1914, most of the medals that
were awarded to soldiers of the
British Empire were only for
Rockwood soldier John Coker
was among the first Canadian
recipients of the Military Medal
commissioned officers. By 1916,
after many months of hard
fighting in some of the bloodiest battles the world had ever
seen, the British High Command decided that it was necessary to acknowledge acts of valour performed by soldiers of
all ranks.
This was important not only
for the individuals who were to
be honoured, but also for the
general morale of the troops.
Among the new decorations
was the Military Medal, which
was instituted by King George
V. This medal was awarded to
Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and men of
lower ranks for individual or
associated acts of bravery or
meritorious conduct in the face
of the enemy.
‰ SEE COKER ON PAGE A4
Military Medal
Artistic pioneer Sue Richards leaves
Guelph with rich cultural legacy
Alex Migdal, Mercury staff
LYNN BROUGHTON, SPECIAL TO THE MERCURY
‰ SEE SQUARE ON PAGE A3
Sue Richards loved Guelph. She died on Saturday.
Canada
Classified
Comics
Cryptoquote
A6
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Editorials
Life
Horoscopes
Lottery results
A8
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B3
A2
GUELPH — Those closest to her called her
the empress of concept and vision in
Guelph. Her radical perspective and artistic thrust altered this city’s genetic makeup,
emboldening its counterculture and harnessing its creativity.
Sue Richards was unapologetically in
love with Guelph and gifted its many treasures we cherish today.
Her contributions were so rich that she
attracted a faithful legion of supporters
dubbed “Team Sue,” who backed her financially and emotionally when she was diag-
Obituaries
Scoreboard
Sports
Sudoku
B10
B4
B5
B8
August 8, 9 & 10, 2014
KILT OPTIONAL.
FUN MANDATORY.
fergusscottishfestival.com
1 866 871 9442
Scotland… without the airfare
nosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2007.
They were the ones who stood by her side
when she passed away Saturday at 56.
Richards sowed the seeds in the mid ’80s
for a musical gathering barely bigger than a
picnic. But through her careful nourishment as executive director and artistic director, the name Hillside gradually and inevitably inscribed itself into the city’s lexicon. The festival mirrored her identity, a
hive of raw talent and unbridled energy.
“You could almost look up Guelph and
community in the dictionary and see her
picture,” said musician James Gordon.
‰ SEE RICHARDS ON PAGE A3
A LOOK AT
TOMORROW’S
WEATHER
FULL FORECAST, PAGE A2
H: 23
L: 11
local
Richards
was named
woman of
distinction
Guelph Mercury z Wednesday, August 6, 2014 z A3
Guelph joggler (and
jogger) sets world records
[email protected]
GUELPH
City reopens Market Square
fountain after repairs
Splashers, rejoice! The Market
Square fountain is shooting
water again after the city shut
it down for repairs over the
long weekend. The city’s general manager Mario Petricevic
said the fountain suffered a
leak and was turned off midSunday. “We just valved it off
and we’ll do a repair in the
off-season,” he said Tuesday.
The city called it a “rough
weekend” for the fountain.
Hundreds of families waded in
the water Saturday for the
John Galt Day bash. The
square was largely empty
Monday afternoon, with only a
couple families sitting by the
drained fountain.
‰ RICHARDS FROM PAGE A1
Gordon served on Hillside’s
first organizing committee with
Richards and later recruited her as
his manager for nearly 15 years.
But it was Guelph that chose
Richards, she would note, when
the university accepted her mature student application for undergraduate studies in psychology.
It marked the before and after in
her life, severing the monotony of
working at a grocery store bakery
in Shelburne for five years.
Waking up for her 5 a.m. shift as
a doughnut fryer, she spent her
days flipping fritters and dodging
flying fat that inflicted third-degree burns
Guelph was her ticket out. In
1981, she quit her job and packed up
her Pinto. She hadn’t intended to
stay. Yet graduation came and went
and still she remained. It was then
she understood the city’s enduring
influence.
“Guelph is a brilliant city to live
in if you have a creative bone in
your body. There’s room for vast,
innovative ideas,” she wrote in a
2004 Mercury op-ed piece.
What differentiated her from
most is how she unleashed those
ideas in a relentless stream, even
when started to feel a slight tremor
in the left side of her body in 2002.
It was that same year she
launched the Breast of Canada calendar, which featured artistic
black-and-white photos of barebreasted women with their faces
obscured.
The calendar, loaded with information about breast health, proved
remarkably empowering for its
subjects. Richards’ declining
health in 2008 marked its premature end.
Yet she was the master of reinvention, as the Mercury proclaimed in 2006. Her efforts as an
activist and entrepreneur melded
seamlessly into her artistry and
writing.
In the late ’90s, she initiated Art
Jam, a community arts project that
espoused collaboration. “Paint
with nary a paint brush in sight,”
i t s whi msi c a l d o c trine proclaimed.
The project led to Richards’ recognition in 2000 as a YMCA-YWCA
Woman of Distinction for Arts and
Culture.
She later launched My Menopause Blog in 2005 — dishing advice on “how to punctuate life without a period.”
And in 2006 her Blog Guelph began featuring links to local artists
and Guelph events.
“I could never believe how she
could look at something completely different than how I would look
at it,” recalled singer-songwriter
and longtime friend Tannis Slimmon.
“It was just a really natural instinct for her to look at things in
such a different way than the
norm. Every little thing presented
itself as an opportunity to make art
of some sort or to make something
humorous.”
Richards termed June “Picnic
Month,” which meant once a week,
she and Slimmon would load a basket and head outdoors.
And for Slimmon’s fiftieth
birthday, Richards armed her
friend with a birthday kit that included a crown and gloves, a way to
channel her love for disguise.
Even as the pain from the Parkinson’s intensified, Richards
commandeered her treatment and
her fate.
She made a public plea last year
on the internet for funds after she
discovered she was ineligible for
government social benefits. She
probed alternative treatments and
posted online advertising a spare
bedroom in exchange for help with
chores.
“She didn’t want to be defined
by her condition,” said Lianne
Sprigg, who lived with Richards
over the last five years of her life.
“She was Sue, she was a free
spirit. She wanted to be in control
of her own fate and of what she was
doing.”
Richards also shared her gratitude for every inch of nature. She
was an avid canoeist and hiker who
slept in her backyard tent for days
in the summer.
It was only fitting, then, that
close friends gathered Sunday to
commemorate her life at Guelph
Lake, her most cherished spot.
That day, her lawn chair stood
on the edge of the dock, facing the
setting sun and the rippling tides.
at a glance
GUELPH
Guelph Police arrest seven for
drinking over long weekend
Guelph Police arrested seven
motorists over the holiday
weekend for blowing over the
legal limit. Four of the motorists arrested are also facing
charges of impaired driving.
In one instance Friday afternoon, a concerned citizen
called police about a female
they saw exiting a vehicle. The
police spotted the car in a
parking lot. When police
parked beside the car, the
driver reversed and struck the
marked police vehicle. That
same day, police arrested a
74-year-old man who failed a
roadside breath sample during
a traffic stop on Macdonell
Street. The motorists are all
scheduled to appear in court
between August and September.
GUELPH
Sixth candidate enters
Guelph mayoral race
CHRIS SETO, MERCURY STAFF
Gabrielle Foran juggles on the running trails at the Arboretum in Guelph last month. The 23-year-old set two
world records for joggling on Aug. 2: in the women’s three-ball mile event and the 800 m three-ball event.
Mercury staff
GUELPH — Gabrielle Foran now holds two world
records in the sport of joggling.
On Aug. 2, the 23-year-old University of Guelph
student travelled to Purdue University to compete
in the 2014 International Joggling Championships.
Joggling is a sport that involves juggling while running.
Last year, she set a record for women running a
mile while juggling three balls. Her time was 5:58.
This year she pushed that record by seven seconds,
running the same distance in 5:51.
She also set a world record for the 800-metre,
running it in 2:41.
Foran also won the 100-metre three-ball sprint,
completing it in 17.7 seconds and the 400-metre
three-ball race, joggling this distance in 1:16.
The International Joggling Championships
takes place annually in different locations around
the United States. It is part of the International Jugglers’ Association’s annual juggling festival.
[email protected]
‘A difficult process,’ says union
‰ DIFFICULT FROM PAGE A1
“This has been a difficult process, but we’ve ended up in a better place,” ATU Local 1189 president Andrew Cleary states in the
same release. “We are looking forward to getting Guelph moving
again this week.”
Guelph Transit mechanics,
drivers and mobility service employees will re po r t to wo rk
Wednesday to road test 54 vehicles. The plan is to restore mobility service by Thursday and regular bus service by Friday.
As an added incentive to get
residents back on city buses, transit service will be free for all users
until end of service on Aug. 15, the
release states. This will give riders the chance to purchase August
bus passes.
The contract includes wage increases of 6.8 per cent over four
years. Hourly wages will increase
to $28.85 in 2017, from $26.49 in 2013
when the contract expired.
The contract also reduces longterm disability payments from 75
per cent of salary to 70 per cent of
salary, the lieu time bank is
capped at 50 hours per calendar
A sixth candidate has officially stepped into the mayoral
race. Jason Blokhuis is the
latest candidate to register. His
campaign website, jasonformayorofguelph.com, indicates
Blokhuis is an associate professor of social development
studies at the University of
Waterloo. He grew up in North
Wellington County, has travelled extensively around the
world, and has lived on Delhi
Street in Guelph since 2011. He
has a PhD in Educational
Thought and Policy from the
University of Rochester. Blokhuis sits on a number of city
hall committees, including the
well-being grants allocation
panel. On his website he describes himself as a “pragmatic social liberal and a fiscal
conservative,” who occupies a
middle ground between fellow
candidates Mayor Karen Farbridge and Coun. Cam Guthrie. “(M)y platform will appeal
to people who want a smaller,
more efficient city government,” Blokhuis states.
GUELPH
Guelph woman charged
after pedestrian struck
TONY SAXON, MERCURY STAFF
Transit service will be free for all users until end of service on Aug. 15. This
will give riders the chance to purchase August bus passes.
year for all employees, and there
is no change to extended health or
dental benefits.
The grievance resolution process has also been enhanced and
the contract includes a letter of
understanding regarding washrooms and a lunch room — sensitive issues for union members,
who have said there is no lunchroom at Guelph Central Station
and only two washrooms for employees.
Two offers that were previously rejected by the union included
6.4 per cent wage increases over
four years and protected all
health and medical benefits and
vacation entitlements.
The union overwhelmingly rejected an offer on July 20 and the
city locked out transit workers on
July 21. City buses have not been
running ever since.
[email protected]
“This concept reclaims that fragmented space
and becomes an iconic destination,” DeGroot added.
DeGroot said the team has used the success of
Market Square, outside city hall, as a jumping-off
point for what St. George’s Square can become.
“This is about phasing in infrastructure and the
growth of downtown,” he said. “Getting the details
right will help create a transformational vision.”
Coun. Cam Guthrie balked at the cost, estimated
at $18.5 million, according to the report.
“Can you still create a sense of unity without
having to spend so much?” Guthrie asked. “Aren’t
there less expensive options?”
Salter said once the design approach is approved,
staff can begin working on detailed designs. “That’s
when different materials and costs will be dis-
GUELPH
Woodlawn Road bridge
to be closed for two weeks
cussed,” he said.
DeGroot said downtown business owners are
mostly concerned with the construction phase and
what that may mean for business. “They appreciate
on-street parking and diagonal parking adds 25 spaces. That’s important to them.”
Guelph resident Steve Baldamus said he surveyed people in the square and got about 50 responses. Based on that, he said most residents want the
square to stay the way it is.
There were six motions tied to this presentation
and all six passed, although Guthrie voted against
them all and Coun. Bob Bell voted against two — one
endorsing the vision and general design, and another to refer the project to the capital budget process.
The bridge on Woodlawn Road
between Victoria Road and
Woolwich Street is scheduled
to be closed for two weeks
starting Monday. On Aug. 11 at
9 a.m., construction crews will
get to work replacing the
bridge deck. The bridge is
expected to reopen on Aug. 22
at 6 p.m. Pedestrians will still
be able to cross the bridge
during the closure, but the city
is asking drivers and cyclists
to avoid the area orfollow detours to make their way
around using Speedvale Avenue. A city news release said
even emergency vehicles will
be following the designated
detour routes.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Guthrie calls for less expensive options
‰ SQUARE FROM PAGE A1
A Guelph driver is facing a
charge after a pedestrian was
struck in the south end of the
city on Monday. At approximately 8 p.m., Guelph Police
were called to the intersection
of Edinburgh and Ironwood
roads for the report of a pedestrian who was struck by a
vehicle. Police said the pedestrian was a Guelph female, but
they did not release her age.
The woman was taken to
Guelph General Hospital by
ambulance. Officers have not
released the status of her condition. A 19-year-old Guelph
woman was charged with
failing to yield to a pedestrian.
local
Guelph Mercury z Saturday, August 16, 2014 z A3
Advocates push for elimination of time discounts
‰ GRADUATED FROM PAGE A1
The ministry said the extension
was perceived to be “excessive” compared to other jurisdictions. It was
also concerned about the potential
negative impacts on teens, their families and new Canadians obtaining
their licences.
The ministry said it is aware of
past research that has raised concerns about time discounts.
“While there are currently no
plans to increase the duration of
graduated licensing, ministry staff
continue to review research and jurisdictional best practices,” the ministry said in a written statement.
Dan Mayhew, senior vice-president with the Traffic Institute Research Foundation and one of the
country’s leading experts on graduating licensing, said time discounts are
contrary to graduated licensing principles, which are based on time in the
system.
“I can understand there’s always
tension between a need to maintain
safety and mobility,” he said. “But I
would urge (the government) to rethink the value of a time discount
from a safety perspective… I don’t
think it’s necessarily good policy to
expose novice drivers to greater
crash risks sooner than you have to.”
Mayhew pointed to British Columbia and New Zealand, which was the
first country to implement graduated
licensing in 1987, as jurisdictions that
have reshaped their policies.
The B.C. government allows drivers to take the advanced road test after 18 months instead of 24 months if
they complete an approved driver’s
training course. In New Zealand,
passing an approved advanced driving course cuts students’ waiting
time from 18 months to 12 months.
In 2012, an internal Ontario Ministry of Transportation assessment
concluded teen G2 drivers who had
completed driver’s training were 12
per cent less likely to be involved in a
fatal collision than a teen driver without training.
The ministry noted not all students will take advantage of the time
discount.
But driving instructors such as
Raj Verma, who runs Verma Driving
School, prominently advertise the
time discount. Verma acknowledged
it draws students to his school.
“The day young drivers pass their
(learner’s) exam, some parents call us
and say, ‘My son or daughter wants to
come to your school and drive as soon
as possible. Will your course reduce
their time period?’” he said.
Verma believes students should be
afforded the time discount, since they
complete 20 hours of classroom sessions, 10 hours of in-car training, as
well as 10 hours worth of homework.
But he said the minimum 10-hour incar training is not enough for new
drivers.
“In 10 hours, it’s very hard to get
them prepared to drive safely on the
road. The timeframe should be
more,” he said. “Sometimes we have
to tell students, ‘You’re not ready for
the road test yet.’”
The Ontario government recommends students gain 50 hours of supervised experience before attempting the G2 road test. But there’s no
way to guarantee that number, since
the government doesn’t ask for certification from a parent or supervisor.
Yukon, for instance, requires
proof of 50 hours of practice time
through a signed declaration. In Sweden, novices with 126 hours of supervised driving experience are a 35 per
cent lower crash risk than those with
40 hours.
“Drivers who have not built sufficient skill through practice will have
difficulty passing these tests,” the
Ontario Ministry said in a written
response, noting drivers must sign a
declaration of highway driving experience to complete the G2 exit test.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada,
which backed the Traffic Institute Research Foundation’s 2005 report, has
also lobbied for strengthening the
country’s graduated licensing.
New motorists considering driver’s education are enticed with insurance discounts, on top of a 10 per cent
reduction for one year of ticket- and
accident-free G1 experience.
Pete Karageorgos, the insurance
bureau’s director of consumer and industry relations in Ontario, said
some insurers also offer discounts to
students with strong academic results.
“The philosophy behind that is
there’s likely a correlation between
students who are focused on doing
well academically and recognize the
responsibility that they have behind
the wheel of a car,” he said.
Karageorgos noted insurers are
gradually implementing usagebased, or telematics insurance, based
on a device that’s plugged in the vehicle and tracks factors such as distanced travelled, time of day and acceleration speeds. Novice drivers, he
said, may qualify for a discount if
ALEX MIGDAL, MERCURY STAFF
Guelph driving instructor Raj Verma says he wants to see the Ministry of Transportation increase the minimum 10 hours of in-car training.
they’re driving responsibly.
Despite calls for improvement,
government officials, traffic experts
and parents unequivocally agree that
graduated licensing has saved lives.
“We certainly have been supportive of graduated licensing for many
decades and it’s something we continue to support wholeheartedly,” Mayhew said.
Ontario’s collision rate among
drivers aged 16 to 19 dropped by 31 per
cent in 1995 compared to 1993, the year
before the province introduced legislation.
Between 2006 and 2010, the last five
years of available data, Ontario saw a
58 per cent decline in the average fatality rate for drivers aged 16 to 19
compared to the five years before the
introduction of graduated licensing.
And between 1991 and 2010, the
number of drivers each year aged 16 to
19 involved in collisions per 10,000 licensed drivers fell by 57 per cent —
despite a 50 per cent increase in the
number of licensed young drivers.
At the same time, authorities continue to crack down on drivers who
fail to follow the system. About 44,000
graduated licensing sanctions were
issued between August 2010 and July
2013. About 17,000 of those stemmed
from violating a novice condition,
such as maintaining a zero
blood alcohol level.
Roughly 27,000
sanctions came
from convi ctions with four
or m ore demerit points,
such as following too closely,
while 397 were
for court-ordered
suspensions.
The Ministry of Transportation has introduced enhancements to the system over the years. In
2004, it limited the number of passengers a teen G2 driver can carry between midnight and 5 a.m.
In 2007, it regulated the driver’s
education industry and, two years
later, required driving schools to follow a ministry-approved curriculum.
And in 2010, it enforced a zero
blood alcohol level for all motorists
aged 21 and under, along with escalating sanctions for repeat violations of
graduated licensing conditions.
A 1999 survey of 520 Ontario parents with teenagers in the program
found they “overwhelmingly” supported graduated licensing and approved of the individual restrictions.
Mayhew, one of the survey’s co-authors, said that support continues today.
Rodger Peaire, whose 17-year-old
son, Jason, died in a 1993 crash in
Guelph along with two of his friends,
only wishes the system had come
sooner.
Twenty-one years later, he still
struggles to rationalize his son’s
death. What if the driver, a newly licensed 16-year-old, had been barred
from carrying passengers? Would Jason have avoided the wreckage?
“I firmly believe, or at least I would
really like to believe, that had graduated licensing been in place, that accident never would have happened.”
[email protected]
Niska Road crash gave legislators
extra push to change system
‰ DRIVING FROM PAGE A1
Four Hamilton teens had already met a similar fate in November 1991 on a southbound
stretch of Highway 6 near Morriston. The 17year-old driver, Tony Arruda, had tried to pass
another vehicle. Instead, he slammed into a
northbound pickup truck. The driver and his
three passengers, all aged 17 and 18, died instantly.
Arruda had been licensed for five months.
McCaig, four months. Arruda had borrowed his
mother’s car. So had McCaig. Arruda was in a
rush to get the car home on time. McCaig and his
two friends faced similar curfews.
In May 1992, the coroner launched a two-day
inquest investigating the collision. Expert witnesses were called to give evidence in favour of a
graduated licensing system. Among those who
testified was Dr. Herb Simpson, the executive
director of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation.
Graduated licensing, he explained, would allow motorists to gain experience in low-risk situations.
“I think it is a system that can have significant
benefits,” he told the jury. “The tragedy that we
see relentlessly occur on our highways is unforgivable.”
Experts pointed to the similarities in crashes among young
drivers: the time and day of the
accident, the number of passengers and the lack of experience.
The jury took note. Following two days of testimony, it recommended the Ontario government implement
a system of graduated licensing.
Its suggestions included: a curfew
for new drivers from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday
and Saturday nights; limiting the number of passengers; and restricting new drivers from driving on roads with speed limits over 100 km/h.
New motorists would incrementally develop
skills in defensive driving, hazard perception
and decision-making.
But the legislation stalled. While Transportation Minister Gilles Pouliot supported the system, he suggested it needed fine-tuning. Parents
suspected politicians were weary of backlash
from young drivers.
“I don’t think they can make any rules to stop
people from being reckless,” a Grade 11 Guelph
student told The Mercury one week after the
crash.
“When you first get your licence and you have
your car, you show off,” another student said.
“Even people who are 40 are reckless sometimes,” a third chimed in.
So Peaire was left to plan a funeral for 300
friends, classmates and family members. He
took two weeks off work, which he spent in a fog,
followed by two years of therapy.
“There’s nothing inside you. You have a body,
but there’s nothing inside. It’s just hollow,”
Peaire says. That emptiness gradually turned
into “intense anger.”
“We’d warned (Jason) and we knew what
Chris was like,” Peaire says, recalling how he’d
seen McCaig drive recklessly before. The Peaire
family filed a lawsuit against McCaig’s family
and reached a settlement a year later.
A fourth mother was also reeling over the
crash. Louise Holland’s 15-year-old son, Glen,
had insisted he join the three boys that night. But
she refused and, for once, he listened.
“The death of his friends cut too close to
home,” she says. “I thought I have to do some-
thing. I don’t want another parent to have to go
through this.”
The Guelph mother started collecting signatures around the city for a petition calling on the
government to implement graduated licensing.
She sat at malls and outside Tim Hortons coffee
shops, and voiced her pleas through the media.
But her son grappled with teasing at school as
classmates chastised the petition.
“Back then, it was someone’s mom trying to
take away their rights. But if I could save one life,
anything negative about it was fine.”
Holland approached Peaire, who strongly
supported the legislation. He had read a report
that showed accidents involving teenagers in
New Zealand dropped by 40 per cent after it became the first country to implement graduating
licensing in 1987.
After securing several thousand signatures
over half a year, Holland presented the petition to
politicians.
Legislators were already facing mounting
pressure, but Derek Fletcher, then Guelph’s
member of provincial parliament, affirmed the
Niska Road crash gave them that extra push. “It
certainly reinforced (the government’s plans),”
he told The Mercury that year.
“It wasn’t a revolution. It was evolutionary,”
says Dan Mayhew, a senior vice-president at the
Traffic Institute Research Foundation who has
studied graduated licensing for 30 years.
“When these concepts were first being kicked
around in the 1980s, they thought we were insane,
to some extent. How could you ever restrict people like this? But it comes as a balancing act
between safety and mobility.”
On April 1, 1994, the Ontario government introduced the first graduated licensing system in
North America. The two-step system ensured
new drivers would abide by strict restrictions,
including a nightly curfew and a limit on passengers, for at least 20 months before securing an
unrestricted licence.
The Ontario Insurance Commission estimated $34 million to $40 million in claim costs would
be saved annually and accident frequency for a
first-year driver would decrease by 10 to 20 per
cent.
“I was glad, because I thought now nobody
else will hopefully ever have to go through this,”
Holland says, noting her children went through
the system. “My son ended up thanking me later
on.”
Peaire was happy with the legislation, but
wishes it had restricted G1drivers to only having
passengers who are family members.
His son was never able to take full advantage
of his licence. Jason, he recalls, was conscientious in his driving, only using the car to get to
work, always with permission. In the year before
his death, the two had practised in parking lots.
Jason had also completed driver’s education.
Peaire continues to drive down Niska Road.
His family planted trees for a few years following
the crash, but stopped after they were repeatedly
destroyed.
Peaire figured someone didn’t want a memorial at the site.
Today, an onslaught of road signs greet motorists as they manoeuvre toward the wooden
bridge. One indicates the road turns slippery
when wet.
Below the bridge runs Hanlon Creek, whose
trickling stream blends in with the rustling
leaves. It’s a site of untarnished beauty, inviting
impulse and freedom.
But the stillness is punctuated by the ceaseless rumble of the bridge, of tire over wood, as if
the earth itself is cracking.
[email protected]
Inventive garden
Making science fun
Round zucchinis highlight open house
— local, A4
U of G student creates entertaining video
— here, C3
On the web: Visit our website for breaking news, updates, videos, blogs and more. Go to guelphmercury.com
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August 16, 2014 . Serving Guelph and Wellington County . $1.90 + tax ( $2.00 ) . weekend edition
Development
plans for
W.C. Wood
property
move ahead
That Night on Niska Road
How the death of three Guelph teens helped change Ontario’s driving legislation
Joanne Shuttleworth,
Mercury staff
‰ SEE PUBLIC ON PAGE A5
, TONY SAXON, MERCURY STAFF
Rodger Peaire stands at the spot on Niska Road where his son 17-year-old son, Jason, died along with two others in a 1993 car crash. The accident played
an important role in helping get graduated licensing established in Ontario.
Alex Migdal, Mercury staff
Twenty years ago,
the province
became the first
jurisdiction in
North America to
introduce a
graduated
licensing system
GUELPH — When the engine
throttles and the tires peel off the
ground, the driver is catapulted into a fleeting euphoria.
Four-thousand pounds of machinery mock gravity. If landed
just right, the car will bounce, as if
shrugging it off, before regaining
direction. The driver, after all, is
indestructible.
But sometimes ice coats the
road. Or sometimes the accelerato r i s s la m m e d r ath e r th a n
pressed. Or sometimes the road
curves at an unexpected angle.
That’s when catching air, a
game of thrill for many drivers,
spirals into swerving headlights
and squealing rubber and a blinding end to the motion.
That’s when three boys lose
their life.
The speedometer clocked 140
km/h when the 1988 Pontiac Bonneville barrelled into a thicket of
Back then, it was
someone’s mom
trying to take away
their rights. But if I
could save one life,
anything negative
about it was fine. ”
LOUISE HOLLAND
GRADUATED LICENSING
ADVOCATE
trees off Niska Road on Feb. 6, 1993.
It landed on its driver side, branches mangling the car’s body. The engine popped out. Debris fell like
rain. Seconds before, the 16-yearold driver, Chris McCaig, sped
down a sloping hill, which gave
way to a straight road that turned
into a wooden-floored, single-lane
bridge. It was a dark night, but the
road was clear of ice. The resulting
wreckage dotted the road over the
next few hundred feet.
All three passengers wore seatbelts. McCaig, 16, was discovered
with grievous injuries. The front
passenger, Bill Wilson, 16, had
been flung to the back. Jason
Peaire, 17, was found in the back
seat with what only seemed like a
bloody nose.
Jason’s father, Rodger, would
later learn his son suffered multiple traumas. The sudden drop in
speed meant Jason’s body stopped
while his organs kept moving.
Nine months earlier, before a
neighbour gave Rodger Peaire a
ride to the hospital to identify his
son’s body, and before officers politely told him his son had passed,
and before Peaire deflected coworkers at The Mercury who wondered why Jason hadn’t shown up
for his shift in the mailroom, a coroner’s jury met in Guelph.
‰ SEE DRIVING ON PAGE A3
Graduated licensing system saves lives, but experts want more
Alex Migdal, Mercury staff
GUELPH — Canada’s graduated
licensing system has been heralded as the “gold standard” since Ontario became the first North American jurisdiction in 1994 to introduce the legislation.
But 20 years later, the province
has failed to adopt recommendations experts say would lead to further safety benefits.
After passing a learner’s exam,
new drivers must undergo two
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stages: a G1 learning period that
requires the supervision of a licensed driver and, following a road
test, an intermediate G2 stage that
requires a zero blood alcohol level.
Both terms last a minimum of 12
months. But the government issues a four-month “time discount”
to novice G1 drivers who complete
an approved driver’s education
course. When credited, a driver
can take the G2 road test in eight
months instead of 12.
A 2005 report on graduated li-
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Sunday August 24th -11am-8pm
Except for on duty service dogs,
NO DOGS will be allowed inside the Ribfest gates.
censing by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation urged jurisdictions to eliminate time discounts.
“The practice of reducing the
length of time in the graduated licensing program for successfully
completing a driver education
course is questionable at best,”
cautioned the report, which pointed to similar research.
The collision risk for novice
drivers who receive the time discount increases 13-fold during
their first four months in the
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G2 stage.
Proposals presented to the Ministry of Transportation in 2009
sought to increase the length of
time drivers are required to spend
in G1 and G2 from a minimum of 12
months to 18 months. G1 drivers
would still be eligible for a sixmonth time discount.
But Transportation Minister
Jim Bradley removed the proposal
from the road safety bill in May
2009.
‰ SEE GRADUATED ON PAGE A3
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R0012840475
GUELPH — William Sleeth
had not yet read the document
in great detail on Friday, but on
first blush he thinks the latest
redevelopment plan for the former W.C. Wood site on Arthur
Street has met the concerns of
the Ward Residents’ Association, of which he is co-chair.
A report on 5 Arthur St.
South including a proposed bylaw amendment goes to the city
council on Aug. 25.
B u t b e c a use the city’s
Downtown Secondary Plan
and its Natural Heritage Strategy policies were recently approved by the Ontario Municipal Board and because the
scope of changes requested by
the developer now fall under
the newly approved plans,
many of the zoning changes are
no longer necessary.
But there are a few, and the
plan has changed slightly from
the last public open house in
March.
The property at 5 Arthur St.
is bounded by Arthur Street to
the east, Cross Street to the
south, the Speed River to the
west, and Elizabeth Street to
the north.
A CN track bisects the property at the north end.
According to the staff report, the developer, Fusion
Homes, is proposing 685 dwelling units on the site along with
space for commercial endeavours. There will be pedestrian
access to the Speed River at a
few points and a public trail,
called Riverwalk that will follow the river.
It will have two 14-storey
apartment buildings on the
north and south ends of the
property with commercial
space on the ground floor. In
the centre of the property will
be three buildings 10 to 12 storeys high with apartments on
the upper floors and townhouse units on the ground
level.
The existing heritage building will be preserved, possibly
used for residential and/or
commercial purposes.
A bove -g ro und parking
structures will be incorporated into the highrises. As the
property is on a flood plain, underground parking is not possible except in a few areas.
Sleet said his group was
most concerned about the river
side of the complex.
“We wanted to see living
units that relate to the Riverwalk so there is no dead space,”
Sleet said, adding that other
apartment buildings in Guelph
that back on to the river have
tall walls that separate river
trails from public view.